Staff

ACQ is staffed by professionals with decades of experience and knowledge in applied behavior analysis and accreditation.

Rachael Coburn, BS
Executive Director

Rachael Coburn is a seasoned autism services leader with more than 25 years of experience supporting children with autism and their families through evidence-based care. She began her career working directly with young children with autism and went on to found Prism Autism Education & Consultation, where she served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer for over a decade. Earlier in her career, Rachael also worked in health intelligence, serving as a client-facing functional lead supporting large, complex organizations with reporting and data systems used for operational and strategic decision-making. This experience informed her ability to build service organizations that are both clinically strong and operationally sound. Under Rachael’s leadership, Prism grew into a multi-site organization recognized for strong clinical practice, ethical operations, and a deep commitment to families and clinicians alike. Rachael lives in Connecticut with her husband and teenage daughters, and an ever-changing number of permanent and foster cats and kittens. She loves to travel, particularly to warm destinations, and rarely passes up a beach sunrise or an empty hammock.

Erick Dubuque, PhD, LBA, BCBA-D
Vice President of Standards and Quality

Dr. Dubuque serves as the Vice President of Standards and Quality for the Autism Commission on Quality’s (ACQ) industry-wide accreditation program designed to promote quality applied behavior analysis services for individuals with autism. He is a former assistant professor with over a decade of experience coordinating, advising, teaching, and supervising students across three graduate training programs in applied behavior analysis domestically and internationally. His professional, voluntary, and scholarly activities have centered around quality control in the training and application of behavior analysis. As an accreditation administrator, expert witness, licensure board chair, and consultant, Dr. Dubuque has shaped legislation, regulations, and policies designed to protect the public and increase access to effective and ethical applied behavior analytic services for individuals with autism. Dr. Dubuque received his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Eileen M. Mendes, BA
Director of Accreditation

Eileen has worked in the human services field for more than two decades across various states, leadership positions, in both for-profit and non-profit home and center-based programs, special education schools, and residential programs. In these roles she has supported initiatives related to risk, compliance, quality, licensing, accreditation, and related performance improvement initiatives. She has supported expansion efforts within the capacity of her roles. As states enacted autism insurance legislation, Eileen supported the programs and families served as they navigated these regulatory and legislative changes. Her areas of expertise and interest include managing risk, ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations, quality improvement, licensing and accreditation activities, operational excellence, and trauma-informed care. Eileen was a founding member of the Massachusetts Coalition of ABA Providers (MassCAP), previously served as Vice Chair of the Standards Committee for the Autism Commission on Quality (ACQ), currently serves as Chair of the Professional Practice Committee of BABAT (Massachusetts Professionals in Behavior Analysis) and Member-at-Large of the New Hampshire Association for Behavior Analysis (NHABA). Eileen has also served as a subject matter expert reviewer for the Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) organizational guidelines and helped in the development of accreditation standards for ABA providers through ACQ.

Allie Sewell
Director of Business Development

Allie Sewell is a business development representative, working closely with ABA organizations to support their accreditation journeys and ongoing commitment to quality. With a background in psychology, Allie takes a thoughtful, relationship-driven approach, partnering with providers to understand their goals, navigate the accreditation process with confidence, and strengthen the care they deliver. She is passionate about improving outcomes for clients and families and believes that accreditation plays an important role in advancing ethical, high-quality care across the ABA field. Allie finds purpose in helping organizations grow in ways that support both their teams and the individuals they serve. Outside of work, Allie enjoys spending quality time with her daughter and her dog. Whether it’s making memories together or enjoying quiet moments at home, family time is an important part of how she recharges and stays grounded.

Sarah Newcome
Client Service Manager

Sarah brings over a decade of experience supporting various organizations across the addiction, mental health, and autism space. She is known for creating organized, people-centered processes through systems optimization and workflow improvement, and is passionate about making sure the people she encounters feel heard and supported. Her goal here is to act as a bridge between ACQ and the organizations we serve, with a focus on making the process a positive and supportive experience. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, her two dogs, and her horse.

Thea Davis, MS Ed, LABA, BCBA
Accreditation Review Manager

Thea is the mother of child with autism. She was the Founder and Executive Director of Autism Bridges, LLC. consisting of four clinics sites and home-based services located in Bedford, NH, Portsmouth, NH, Methuen MA and Burlington, VT areas serving 1000s of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their families. Autism Bridges specialized in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum and was acquired in 2021. Thea has 25 years’ experience in the field of autism and applied behavior analysis. She has presented and co-authored dozens of presentations at ABAI, BABAT, NHABA, HABA and at the national Autism Law Summit. Thea was the founder and president of NHABA and a founding member of Massachusetts Coalition for ABA Providers (MassCAP) and served as the director of member education. Thea also was a subject matter expert for the Council of Autism Service Providers organizational guidelines. Her professional and personal passion continues to revolve around improving the lives of individuals with autism and their families.

Brenna Perez
Business Development Associate

Brenna’s passion is marketing, enabling her to connect with people in the autism service field who are meaningfully supporting children and families. She is from a small Texas town and married her high school sweetheart. Local values shaped her strong sense of connection, commitment, and community in both her personal and professional lives.

Garry Carneal
Accreditation Advisor

Garry Carneal is the President & CEO of Schooner Strategies and serves as ACQ’s Accreditation Advisor. He is a leading expert in health care having researched, written and published extensively on quality, medical management, information technology and regulatory trends. Garry has established a track record helping trade associations, accreditation organizations, nonprofits and other health-related businesses scale nationally. Throughout his career, he has brought to market over 25 accreditation programs that have been recognized by 45 states and three federal agencies. He serves on numerous boards and committees in support of improving the U.S. healthcare system. Garry received an undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University, a master’s degree from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.